Tag: pyongyangs

There was ‘frustration’ in Kim Jong Un’s message: Expert 4:50 AM ET Wed, 2 Jan 2019 | 03:00But to do so, Pyongyang needs help from its rich neighbors. The nuclear-armed nation is seeking more than $7.7 million in investment, the Seoul-based online newspaper NK News reported last month, citing information from a website run by North Korea’s foreign trade ministry. Xi’s Belt and Road project offers the perfect answer to those needs. Pyongyang “would love to be part of Belt and Road,” Dane Chamorro

But to do so, Pyongyang needs help from its rich neighbors. The nuclear-armed nation is seeking more than $7.7 million in investment, the Seoul-based online newspaper NK News reported last month, citing information from a website run by North Korea’s foreign trade ministry.

Xi’s Belt and Road project offers the perfect answer to those needs. China has historically been Pyongyang’s largest trading partner.

Pyongyang “would love to be part of Belt and Road,” Dane Chamorro, a senior partner in the Asia Pacific division of Control Risks, a consulting firm specializing in politics told CNBC on Friday. Kim’s government is waiting for an invitation so his country can get assistance on the construction of railway links and ports and other facilities, Chamorro said.

Beijing also seems keen on Pyongyang’s inclusion, with the Chinese government inviting a North Korean delegation to attend a Belt and Road summit in 2017 — but it’s unlikely to take any action for now.

Including Pyongyang in the BRI is “probably more trouble than it’s worth” at the present moment, said Mintaro Oba, a former U.S. State Department official who specialized in the Koreas during the administration of former President Barack Obama.

For one, sanctions still remain in place. Beijing, however, has called for those penalties to be eased.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are sure to discuss North Korea at next week’s bilateral summit as the American leader looks to tap Moscow’s strategic leverage over the isolated state. For one, Trump may ask the Russian leader to maintain sanctions on ruler Kim Jong Un’s regime, he said. Putin imposed restrictions on North Korea to comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution last October, but his administration has generally rejected most U.S.-led efforts to i

Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are sure to discuss North Korea at next week’s bilateral summit as the American leader looks to tap Moscow’s strategic leverage over the isolated state.

The controversial heads of state are due to meet in Helsinki on Monday, with arms control, Ukraine, Syria and Iran likely to dominate talks. Pyongyang’s pledge to denuclearize may not top the agenda, but it’s likely to get considerable attention.

The U.S. president will “absolutely” seek Putin’s help on the matter, according to Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, associate scholar at the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute. For one, Trump may ask the Russian leader to maintain sanctions on ruler Kim Jong Un’s regime, he said.

Putin imposed restrictions on North Korea to comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution last October, but his administration has generally rejected most U.S.-led efforts to isolate Pyongyang.

For its diplomacy to succeed, it’s crucial for Washington to maintain pressure on the pariah nation, but Beijing and Moscow are reluctant to do so following April’s inter-Korean summit and last month’s Trump-Kim meeting, explained Silberstein.

“Both China and Russia see the cooling of ties as significant enough progress to argue that sanctions should be lessened in the near future, while Trump argues that they should stay on with full pressure until North Korea has abolished its nuclear weapons,” the scholar said.

Russia’s economic influence over North Korea is nowhere as great as China’s, but it still wields considerable sway thanks to deep-rooted trade, cultural and commercial relations. The Eurasian country is a major destination for North Korean laborers and in 2014, it wrote off 90 percent of Pyongyang’s $11 billion debt from the Soviet-era. In May, Kim said he “highly” valued Putin for opposing the U.S., according to Russian media.

Although a historic inter-Korean summit in late April raised hopes of reconciliation, North Korea showed a dramatic change in tone in recent days. North Korea’s chief negotiator Ri Son Gwon said on Thursday it would not hold talks with South Korea unless their demands were met, taking issue with the U.S.-South Korean air combat drills known as Max Thunder. A dozen North Korean restaurant workers came to South Korea in 2016 from China, and North Korea had urged to send them back claiming they wer

Moon and Trump are set to meet on Tuesday in Washington before North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets with Trump on June 12 in Singapore.

Although a historic inter-Korean summit in late April raised hopes of reconciliation, North Korea showed a dramatic change in tone in recent days.

North Korea’s chief negotiator Ri Son Gwon said on Thursday it would not hold talks with South Korea unless their demands were met, taking issue with the U.S.-South Korean air combat drills known as Max Thunder. It came a day after it threatened to pull out of the summit with the United States.

Further dampening the mood, a spokesman for North Korea’s Red Cross Society demanded on Saturday that South Korea’s government should send North Korean female restaurant workers back to their home “without delay” to show the will to improve the inter-Korean ties, the North’s Korea Central News agency said.

A dozen North Korean restaurant workers came to South Korea in 2016 from China, and North Korea had urged to send them back claiming they were abducted by the South, even though the South has said the 12 workers decided to defect of their own free will.

Lee Dong-bok, a researcher at New Asia Research Institution, said part of the reason for the North’s demands of the repatriation is to divide South Korea’s public opinion over the 12 workers.

“It is also to pressure the Moon government to agree to its demand so that South Korea can keep up the momentum for the North Korea-U.S. summit meeting,” Lee said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the United States would continue to put “maximum pressure” on North Korea ahead of what he hoped would be positive talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that would lead to Pyongyang’s denuclearization. “I want them to get rid of their nukes,” Trump said at a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the United States would continue to put “maximum pressure” on North Korea ahead of what he hoped would be positive talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that would lead to Pyongyang’s denuclearization.

“I want them to get rid of their nukes,” Trump said at a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House.

The Trump administration issued fresh sanctions Wednesday as it tries to stifle North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. The Treasury Department slapped sanctions on nine entities, 16 individuals and six vessels that it says helps to finance or support the communist dictatorship’s weapons development. Among the entities punished are two China-based trading firms which the Treasury says exported metals and other materials used for the weapons program. The administration also targets individual

The Trump administration issued fresh sanctions Wednesday as it tries to stifle North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

The Treasury Department slapped sanctions on nine entities, 16 individuals and six vessels that it says helps to finance or support the communist dictatorship’s weapons development.

Among the entities punished are two China-based trading firms which the Treasury says exported metals and other materials used for the weapons program. The administration also targets individuals who it says are officials in Pyongyang’s ruling party working in China, Russia and Georgia.

“Treasury continues to systematically target individuals and entities financing the Kim regime and its weapons programs, including officials complicit in North Korean sanctions evasion schemes,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The U.S. and international community have attempted to use an economic crackdown to curb the aggression of the Kim Jong Un regime. However, the Trump administration and other governments have cited some ongoing violations of sanctions meant to deter nuclear and missile development.

The U.S. has put particular pressure on China, Pyongyang’s only major ally, to cut off the regime financially.

Pyongyang props up its nuclear program with income from the sale of various illegal goods, including weaponry, synthetic drugs, counterfeit currency and nuclear technology. Those go to a range of frontier markets across Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. And while North Korea has been under sanctions since 2006, that’s never deterred buyers — until maybe now. “Tighter sanctions and added pressure from the U.S. could make it even more difficult for North Korea to push through some future

Pyongyang props up its nuclear program with income from the sale of various illegal goods, including weaponry, synthetic drugs, counterfeit currency and nuclear technology. Those go to a range of frontier markets across Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. And while North Korea has been under sanctions since 2006, that’s never deterred buyers — until maybe now.

As Washington and Beijing turn up the heat on Kim Jong-un’s regime, reflected by Saturday’s new penalties, fewer nations may now be willing to risk the international community’s wrath by engaging with Kim.

“There is now a much greater effort…to cut Pyongyang’s diplomatic ties in the developing world and raise awareness of various U.N. resolutions,” said Karl Dewey, an analyst specialized in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear assessments at defense researcher Jane’s by IHS Markit.

The fresh set of penalties imposed on Kim’s administration this past Saturday could subtract $1 billion from Pyongyang’s coffers, the U.S. State Department estimated.

“Tighter sanctions and added pressure from the U.S. could make it even more difficult for North Korea to push through some future contracts as countries could think twice about buying from North Korea at this time,” echoed Omar Lamrani, senior military analyst at geopolitical intelligence firm Stratfor.

A key reason behind the potential shift in mentality from previous years lies in the nitty-gritty of Saturday’s resolution.